Jobbik: But what happens if enough statments of support are collected for the Wage Union initiative?

Press release – In his in-depth interview with Radio Lánchíd, Jobbik MP Márton Gyöngyösi talked about the significance of the European Commission (EC) having registered the party’s initiative for the European Wage Union and discussed how Brussels could be convinced to support the objectives as well as why Fidesz’ policy cannot help us solve Hungarian national issues.

Will the government stand by Hungarian people?

Mr Gyöngyösi explained that Jobbik had to push the wage union initiative through Brussels’ bureaucracy but the Hungarian government had actually offered much more resistance to the idea. The MP believes the Commission’s decision discredited PM Orbán’s excuse that the EU had no means to influence wages in Hungary.

“I can only hope that when Jobbik launches a European campaign (…) the Hungarian government will know where it belongs and will stand for the Hungarian people instead of offering petty resistance for the sake of its own power,” the MP voiced his optimism, adding that statements of support could be collected from all EU member states and not just from the Eastern ones that originally launched the initiative.

Commenting on yesterday’ absurd statement by Fidesz’ Parliamentary faction spokesman János Halász, who had said that if a European Wage Union is implemented, migrants would flood into Hungary, Mr Gyöngyösi said: “That is an extremely laboured and stupid response.” On the other hand, he did emphasize that Jobbik still rejected any settlement of migrants or allocation quotas but explained that the wage issue was something completely different and Hungary had no choice but to cope with the fallback suffered in the past decades.

Referring to the findings of many studies published nowadays on this matter, the MP asserted that Hungarian wages had significantly fallen back in regional comparison (with Poland and the Czech Republic, for example) since the late 1990s. “Hungarian average wage has particularly shown a dramatic drop since the Orbán government took over in 2010,” Mr Gyöngyösi claimed, adding that “we either do something about this or Eastern Central Europe will become empty because nobody stays here to work, establish a family or settle down as long as the wages are so low.”

Brussels can be convinces if you really put your mind to it

Explaining the procedure, Mr Gyöngyösi said the purpose of the one million signatures was to convince the Commission that the initiative had the sufficient popular support. After that, the submitters will be heard by the EC and the European Parliament, then the Commission as a legislative body has to look into how the demands could be integrated into EU law. “The Commission has many options to do so as they can initiate the legal acts in terms of the Council of Ministers, the Council of Europe as well as the European Parliament so that they could integrate the principle of “equal wages for equal work” into the EU’s cohesion policy and European law,” the MP explained, adding that the EU had no control over whether the billions spent as part of the cohesion policy actually contributed to Hungary’s or the other countries’ convergence. In his view, the way to convince Brussels to make sure that one of its original goals, i.e., the integration of Eastern European member states is truly met is to prove for the decision-makers that the monies had not been properly used so far.

The government’s policy is dangerous and unable to solve Hungary’s national issues

Talking about the resolution adopted by the European Parliament (EP), which prepares the launch of an Article 7 procedure against Hungary, Mr Gyöngyösi called it a grave problem unheard of in the history of the EU before, and said that it might lead to Hungary’s complete legal deprivation within the Union. However, the opposition MP did not rule out that Fidesz’s actual goal might be to secure its hold on the power by confronting the Union in “fake issues” instead of standing up for Hungary in matters of true national importance.

Mr Gyöngyösi believes that Fidesz would be in great trouble if it had to focus on domestic issues in its campaign, and that is why the government party uses the fake struggle with Brussels for communication purposes. He emphasized that Jobbik MEPs voted against the motions, i.e., against Hungary’s name being dragged through the mire.

“It is very sad that a Prime Minister who has been actively involved in Hungary’s political life for 27 years has failed to understand that the European Union is an institution where you can and you must fight for Hungarian national interests. But it’s not the right way if you sign everything in Brussels, then come home and incite the people against the EU,” Mr Gyöngyösi said, adding that it was a highly dangerous approach which did not help us solve Hungarian national issues.